Consequentially, Paul is viewed as a
major source of biblical theology, because he is a major author of the New Testament and teaches about numerous
subjects that still pertain to modern Christians. However, it is
important to realize that there are subjects included in Paul's
letters that do not pertain to modern Christians, because he was
teaching about subjects that were cultural-based to "specific
people," in a "specific time-period," who existed in a "particular culture."

Cultural Examples in Paul's Letters

A quick cultural example in Paul's letters is found in Romans
16:16, where Paul says, "Greet one another with a holy kiss." In many
modern cultures, where kissing is reserved for family or is viewed as
something used only for romantic situations, such a suggestion might
be sinful. To the 1st century Roman church, Paul says, "holy kiss," but if
Paul were to write to a modern church, he would likely say, "Greet
one another with a friendly handshake."

Another great cultural example in Paul's letters is when Paul talks about
subjects like Head Coverings in 1 Corinthians 11, which makes
little sense to modern Christians who live in a culture where women
never cover their heads for any reason other than maybe it's cold. Many people try to use this as a metaphor,
but Paul is not speaking metaphorically. He is speaking literally to
a group of people who lived in a culture where this was an issue
where believers were uncertain of how to behave.

Paul's letters have plenty of other cultural examples in them, which are generally easily identifiable.

In reality, if Paul were to
write a letter to a modern culture, there are actually situations where he
might literally tell modern believers to behave in the exact opposite
manner that he told 1st century believers. And there's nothing wrong with that fact; it's just because the culture is different, but it is important to identify what is cultural and what transcends culture.

Organization of the Pauline Epistles

Paul's letters were organized by early
Christians according to their length (based on words, not chapters), with Romans being the longest
of his letters, followed by 1 & 2 Corinthians. Titus and Philemon
are last because they are his shortest letters.

The following is a list of the Pauline
Epistles, ordered canonically (in the order they are listed in the
Bible). Each letter is summarized by chapter, in order to break down
Paul's thoughts into manageable pieces.

Note: The author of the book of Hebrews is unknown. Some people believe that
Paul wrote this letter, but this perception has long since been viewed as unsubstantial. There simply is not enough evidence to determine who the author is.